


I can see me loving nobody but you (for all my life)

by conn_tinuity



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: First Kiss, Gen, Getting Together, M/M, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-17 18:36:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20625662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/conn_tinuity/pseuds/conn_tinuity
Summary: Reed has a habit of getting himself in trouble. Nines adapts by forming a habit of his own.-“What the fuck, plastic! Put me down!”“I most certainly will not.”





	I can see me loving nobody but you (for all my life)

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again with the song lyric titles.

Detective Reed, Nines finds, has a tendency to get himself hurt by charging recklessly into situations with no regard for his own safety. Nines quickly learns to grab Reed by the back of his jacket whenever the Detective makes that stubborn, frustrated face that makes Nines’ pump malfunction in his chest.

One particular evening, Nines feels his partner shift next to him, readying to rush after an armed suspect that Nines knows Reed has no hope of catching without being severely injured.

Sending a quick direct message to Connor, Nines assesses how to best avoid the unpleasant pre-constructed situation. Nines grabs Reed by the hood of his jacket and none too gently yanks him backwards, hoisting the squawking little man up into the android’s arms like a teddy bear.

Reed shrieks at the sudden change in position, arms wrapping around Nines’ neck when the android starts walking away.

“What the fuck, plastic! Put me down!”

“I most certainly will not.”

Reed splutters.

“They’re getting away!”

Nines rolls his eyes. 

“I am perfectly aware, Detective Reed. However, I am sure Connor is more than capable of catching the suspect.”

Reed struggles in his grip.

“Oh, hell no! No fucking way I’m letting that asshole do my job for me!”

“Connor and Lieutenant Anderson have been assigned this case as well, Detective,” Nines says calmly, ever the dictionary definition of patience. “It would be wise to let them help.”

“And why the fuck can’t I help?! I would have a better chance at apprehending the motherfucker than that old drunk bastard and you know it!”

Nines sighs.

“Detective.”

Reed starts beating on Nines’ chest.

“Put me down, asshole! That’s an order!”

“I don’t answer to you,” Nines says, but he puts Reed down anyway. They’re far away enough that the human won’t be harmed.

Reed practically leaps out of the android’s arms and starts frantically patting himself down. Ludicrous. As if Nines would ever hurt him.

“Fucking plastic, I swear to God… What the fuck was that even for, anyway?! You think I’m incompetent or something?!”

Nines tilts his head. Humans can be so frustrating sometimes.

“Of course not, Detective. I hold you in the highest esteem. You know that,” Nines says, completely sincere.

Reed scoffs.

Nines tilts his head in the other direction.

“I merely assessed the situation and chose the safest and most effective route. My pre-constructive abilities predicted no outcomes in which you chased the suspect without being severely injured. As I care about you, I do not wish to see you be harmed in anyway.”

Reed pauses in his stewing, looking up at the stoic android with wide, disbelieving eyes.

“You care about me?”

Nines nods.

“Of course I do, Detective. We are partners, are we not?” Nines folds his arms behind his back. “By human societal standards, I would hope to assume that we are even possibly friends.”

Reed looks like someone has punched him in the face.

“Friends?”

Nines nods.

Reed exhales shakily.

“Friends… Me, friends with an android… Holy shit, what the fuck? The fuck…”

Nines watches the Detective impassively, but a foreign, slightly nauseating feeling begins to constrict his chassis. Androids are not supposed to be capable of feeling nauseous. Nines runs a diagnostic. It comes back all systems normal.

“Detective Reed,” Nines begins, and he actually falters. “Detective Reed, I… I am sorry.”

Reed stops running his hands through his hair, whirling around to look at him.

“You’re what?”

“I’m sorry,” Nines repeats. “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable or incompetent. Please believe me when I say neither of those things were my intention. I have noticed while working with you that you tend to rush into dangerous situations without regard for your own safety, which all too often results in you being harmed.”

Reed looks away.

Nines frowns.

“I reason that, if not as your friend, that I should at least as your partner endeavour to protect you from harm wherever applicable. I do not want to see you injured or wounded or killed when I could have prevented it.”

For one moment, Nines’ ever-present facade breaks, and he looks down, focusing on the pavement so the Detective cannot see the raw emotion in his eyes. Nines cannot be seen as vulnerable to any extent.

“I do not know what I would do if that happened, Gavin.”

Reed is looking at the android with an expression that Nines has never before witnessed on the Detective’s face. Nines wonders if Reed is even seeing him in that moment. Reed continues to be silent and Nines can feel his stress levels rising as a result.

“Gavin.”

Nines glances up.

“I’m sorry?”

“Gavin,” Reed says, rough voice tinted with awe. “You actually called me Gavin. That’s the first time you’ve ever called me by my name.”

“To be fair, Detective, Reed is also your name.”

Reed rolls his eyes, waving his hands around in dismissal.

“You know what I mean.”

Nines does. A rare smile graces his face.

“Holy shit, you’re smiling,” Reed says, awe more audible. Nines decides he likes hearing Reed’s voice sound like that.

“I am,” Nines says somewhat cheekily, and receives a genuine laugh in return.

Nothing could have prepared Nines for what happened next.

Reed steps forward and wraps his arms around Nines, holding him close in what has got to be the first hug the android has ever received from anyone besides Connor, Sixty, and Hank.

“Detective?”

“Shut up,” Reed says, burying his face in Nine’s chest. “You’re getting a hug and I’m not bitching about it, so don’t ruin it, all right? Stupid android…”

Nines hesitantly brings his hands up to rest on the Detective’s back. 

A message from Connor pings through, notifying Nines that his predecessor has managed to catch the suspect with no injuries to anyone beside a broken nose to the suspect himself, courtesy of the Lieutenant.

Nines decides not to mention it yet.

Reed has started shaking in his arms.

“Are you all right, Detective? Gavin?” Nines asks quietly, concerned.

After a minute of mutual silence, Reed pulls back, wiping his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine, tin can, no need to worry about little old me.” Reed splutters a hoarse laugh.

Nines raises a disbelieving eyebrow, but decides not to comment on that either.

“Anything you say, Detective. Just be aware that you can tell me anything that bothers you, all right? As your partner, I am content to listen to anything that may be troubling you.” Nines hopes he is saying the right words. Articulating his feelings can be difficult at times.

Reed nods, so it must be working.

“Yeah. Yeah, uh, thanks for that. I’ll remember it.” He sniffs, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down. “I just don’t want to feel useless, you know? It was bad enough when Connor got here, but now that there’s you too, I just feel a little out of place, you know? Like one day I’m going to wake up and I won’t be needed. I’ll be obsolete, just like one of you out of date androids.”

Nines lays a hand on Reed’s shoulder, a comforting gesture he had learned from Hank.

“Gavin,” Nines starts, and he feels slightly overheated when Reed smiles at him. “You are not useless. You will never be useless, because you are one of the most skilled and competent detectives I know. There is no-one who could ever possibly replace you, human or android. Even if there was,” and Nines blushes slightly, cheeks tinged a faint light blue, “I wouldn’t want them to be my partner.”

Reed is staring at him, face soft and full of wonder. Nines wonders if this is what love feels like. The kind of love that Connor had told him was different than the love between pets and friends and family.

“I would never have anyone but you.”

Reed kisses him, and the world comes alight.

When they break away, Reed is panting slightly. Poor humans and their need for air. Nines steadies him with his hands on the man’s hips. Reed holds Nines’ face with warm, calloused hands that have seen many, many things.

“Wow. Didn’t think an android would be so good at that,” Reed says, and it could be a joke.

“Well, I didn’t think it possible that all humans would be disgusting,” Nines chuckles, takes a chance by answering in kind, and it pays off spectacularly because Reed laughs and kisses him again.

Rain starts to fall from the sky and they are still standing there, happy together, lost in love.

“So. Partners?” Reed asks after a while. Water runs down his face. Nines has the urge to wipe it away.

“Partners,” Nines hums.

He quite likes the sound of that.

**Author's Note:**

> I love me some soft Nines.


End file.
